Like A Kite
by The Mad Creationist
Summary: They lived within two worlds, two spheres of influence that could never touch each other, caress each other, hold each other.
1. Like A Kite

**Ulquihime and Ichihime. MAJOR spoiler for chapter 345. Don't read if you don't like the pairings. Some brief writing of the sexual nature, but no lemons, sorry for all you perverted freaks out there. Short drabble, written because of a sudden thought I had after reading chapter 345.**

They lived within two worlds, two spheres of influence that could never touch each other, caress each other, hold each other.

She lived within the light. She was a flower, she needed the sunlight to survive. How crippling to Los Noches sky was on her being stunned him. The moonlit sky helped her naught, the darkness was not her domain. She wilted, slowly and surely, until her last petals began to droop, began to touch the ground because she could not, would not stand straight anymore. Her perseverance served not to help her, but to hurt her even more. He pretended not to hear her when he passed her closed door, her constant mantra she said when the chips were down. "Kurosaki-kun will be fine, Kurosaki-kun will be fine, Kurosaki-kun will be fine…" He pretended that it didn't twist his heart a little bit each time. Her refusal to eat was also a sign of her failing health, she no longer refused because she was being adamant, she refused because she was unable to, she couldn't chew it or swallow it without spending to much energy. She was weak, she felt lightheaded. She fainted sometimes after meals. He fed her through tubes, like he said he would. It did little. It almost seemed to be that it was sucking the life out, not putting more in.

He, however, lived within the dark. He thrived in the dark expanses of the Hueco Mundo sky, the starless night with little bothering him but the moon. He was aloft as much as he was aloof. He was like a kite in the sky, no one could touch him, except for the one holding the string. Aizen. He held him above the others. He was the _most_ loyal, the _most_ capable, the _most_ trusted, even above the other three. He was chosen for the most important jobs and tasks to be carried out. He often considered himself above the others for this reason. He soared above the rest, flapping his wings, the messenger of death and dismay. He vaguely recalled this as he found himself fighting Kurosaki on the roof, clashing his sword with his until finally, one final moment, it was over before it began. A cry came from below.

"Orihime!" He heard the Quincy's call and stopped briefly, instinctively guarding against Kurosaki's swinging blade with but a flick of the wrist. His wings flapped slightly, as if they were becoming restless. He wanted to fly again.

"Ichigo! Orihime's fainted! She won't get up!"

Now or never. Ulquiorra sent the boy flying as he came down the hole, feeling his Resurrección's power shake the walls and ceiling. Dust wafted down as he bent over her. The boys yelled at him to stop, but his fingers slid under her as he picked her up and held her out toward Kurosaki.

"Take her. Take her. Just take her…"

_"Take it." He stared at her coldly. She shook her head slightly, her eyes only half open. She wanted to rest. He watched regarded her exterior, his green eyes opening and closing with soft sounds inaudible to most. He heard everything, he thought.  
__"I'm… I can't. It hurts to chew." She whispered. He swore he could feel another petal falling off her. Her pride was gone, all her dignity had vanished. Her clothes were loose, her cheeks and eyes sunken into her face. He brushed hair from her face as he sat down. He couldn't put her on a feeding tube, not now. She slid onto his lap and he held her.  
"I'm sorry Ulquiorra-sama, but I can't… I can't…" She heaved dry sobs. Had she grown so malnourished her ever-present tears had dried up and vanished? He sighed and held up her chin, kissing her as usual. When had this relationship started? He supposed it began when he caught her doing sexual things to herself in her room, saying Kurosaki's name. Teenage angst, he had thought. Could it be that his actions, telling her to stop and that she was above things like that, despite being trash, calmed her? He rubbed her back and nuzzled her now, kissed her now. It did little to help. Maybe he was the one sucking the life out of her, the vampire he was. He grabbed at some of her food, vowing to help more then to comfort. He took the meat and placed it in his mouth, letting her watch him with her curious, dimly lit brown eyes. He chewed until he could swallow before kissing her now, forcing it into her mouth. She swallowed, realizing the idea. She wanted the food now. She wanted to live so she could see him and touch him and tell him the truth, or at least most of it._

Kurosaki cautiously walked forward and snatched her from Ulquiorra's arms, holding her close to his body as he backed away. "What's the big deal, huh?! Are you scared to lose, so you decide to bargain by giving me her?!"  
"You think to highly of yourself, trash. I could kill you within moments if I wished it."

_He did his routine every day, nourishing her in his awkward way, kissing and chewing and kissing and chewing. They both felt degraded, he knew. He longed for the time where his hands used to slip under her clothes for other purposes then to see how taut her skin was under her ribs. He longed for the part where he could put himself above this again, be the kite that could rise up over the others. Had he crashed down to Earth? No. Another kite had simply joined him in the sky, he decided. It was below him, but high enough for him to touch. She would crash, not him. He held her close after her meal. She held him back, equally close.  
"Ulquiorra-san?"  
"Yes, woman."  
"Promise you won't hurt Ichigo…"  
"I can't promise such things."  
"…I know."_

Ulquiorra waved them away. "Go now, before I change my mind and fight you with her burdening your arms."  
"…Why are you doing this?" Ichigo couldn't help but ask about Ulquiorra's sudden change of heart, his one-eighty from killing him to handing him what he wanted. Ulquiorra opened his wings now, and the room shook even harder, small chunks of granite falling from the ceiling as an earthquake began.

"She is a flower. I thrive in the dark. We cannot be near each other, we cannot share the same domain. Light and dark are two separate entities, paltry human. Remember that."

He flew off, up into the night sky, swooping away from Los Noches. Had the string on Aizen's end of the kite ran out? He Ulquiorra managed to break free of the Shinigami's grip on him?

No.

In the end, it was Orihime holding the kite's string, and she was the one to let him go.


	2. Epilogue

Orihime awoke the next day and found herself staring at the dawn's light, in Kurosaki's bedroom, in human clothes. She found Ichigo sleeping on the floor, and everyone else was scattered about the room as well. She sat up, looking out the window into the morning light. Could it be? She remembered Ulquiorra and Ichigo fighting… They had gone through the roof. They had vanished. She remembered Ulquiorra as a bat… Was everything a dream? Was there no Los Noches?

The orange haired girl spotted a black and white figure moving on a rooftop. Her face softened as she watch Ulquiorra lift into flight, his wings dragging along rooftops as he glided away, a gargantua ripping open as he sailed through, swallowed by the dark.

She was in her world, he was in his. They simply couldn't exist together. It was like light and dark trying to stay in the same place.

Orihime felt herself shed a tear.

They lived within two worlds, two spheres of influence that could never touch each other, caress each other, hold each other.


End file.
